Method of making shoes and laced uppers employed therein



April 1, 1947. F A 2,418,168

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES AND A LACED UPPER EMPLOYED THEREIN Original FiledJuly 25, 1941 Patented Apr. 1, 1947 METHOD OF MAKING SHOES AND LACEDUPPERS EMPLQ-Y ED THEREIN Eoseph Fossa, Salem, Mass assignor to UnitedShoe Machinery Corporation, FlemingtomN. J., a corporation of New Jersey Griginal application July 23, 1941, Serial No. 403,675. Dividedand this application October 14, 1944, Serial No. 558,771

The present invention relates to a method of making shoes and to anarticle produced during one step of the method and, more particularly,to an improvement in making shoes in which a single dress-type shoe laceis employed for holding the upper of a shoe in proper shape duringlasting operations and to a completely laced upof novel form. The lacedshoe upper of the invention is herein illustrated in the form producedby a machine disclosed in an application of the present inventor forUnited States Letters Patent, Serial No. 493,675, filed July 23, 1941(now Patent No. 2,383 538, granted August 28, 1945), of which thepresent application is a division.

Lasting lacings composed of inexpensive loose twisted cord commonly areapplied by inserting loops of the cord within registering eyelets of afolded shoe upper, which loops are interlocked with each other, the endsof cord being tied or left unsecured except by drawing them through thefinal loops of the completed lacings. Lasting lacings of this nature aregenerally inserted in an upper by machine, such as is disclosed inUnited States Letters Patent of the present inventor No. 2,106,320 ofJanuary 25, 1938, and No. 2,327,345 of August 24, 1943, the lacingsinserted by this machine being removed before the shoe is completelymanufactured and before the last is removed from the shoe so that thereis no necessity for taking special precautions to insure a goodappearance or durability in the lacings.

Dress laces for shoes customarily consist of lengths of flat or roundwoven textile material, the free ends of which lengths are tippedpermanently with ferrules giving them sufficient rigidity and tenuity tofacilitate hand insertion in the eyelets of an upper without the use ofa needle or other eyelet entering device. Other forms of dress laceshavetips of plastic material solidified after being compressed, or laces maybe employed, the tips of which are rigid due to the nature of thematerial from which the laces arecomposed. The tips of dress laces maythus be grasped and inserted or withdrawn from eyelets conveniently byhand, but heretofore it has been considered impracticable to insert suchlaces by machine into shoe uppers either'before or after lasting. Also,the cost of dress-type laces'would be prohibitive as compared with theusual form of lasting lacing cord if such a dress lace were to be usedfor the lasting operation only.

'. An important object of the present invention,

therefore, is to provide a method of making shoes 5 Claims. (Cl. 36-465)in which the necessity for inserting or removing a special temporarylasting lacing is avoided and in which effective use may be made of thesame lacing throughout the various steps of manufacture and sale of ashoe, which results in substantial savings in both time and expense. Afurther object is to provide a shoe upper laced in a manner to lenditself effectively to the performance of the improved method.

The improved method, as herein illustrated, comprises passing a regulardress lace through the eyelets and across the lacing slit of an unlasted shoe upper, securing the ends of the lace to form a lacing whichwill provide a predetermined separation of the eyeletted edges, as withthe use of a cord lacing, when the upper is ape plied to a last, or forother purposes, lasting the upper or performing other operations such asremoving the last from the resulting shoe, and completing operations onthe shoe while the lacing remains in place for subsequent use.

in order to securethe ends of the lace in place during lastingoperations according to this feature of the invention, the ends arecarried inside the upper between the upper and the last while the upperis being applied to the last. Several advantageous results are obtainedby so securing the ends of the lace. The lace may be tightened orloosened while applying the upper to the last to give the desiredseparation of the eyeletted edges and an accurate location of the shoeparts against any possibility of slippage follows from. the fact that,as the upper is tensioned in lasting, the ends of the laceare securedmore and more firmly in position. Furthermore, the size of a dress laceprovides a substantial area of contact against the surfaces of the shoeupper and the eyelets therein, so as to distribute the lasting forcesevenly between the two without any tendency to overstrain the parts orinjuriously indent the surfaces of the upper. Also, a much firmer gripis obtained on the ends of a dress lace by carrying it between theupperand last than would be possible with the usual form of temporarylacing cord which is of relatively small diameter.

A convenient manner of releasing the last from the completed shoe at theend of the lasting operation, with the illustrated form of lacing, isprovided by employing a two-part jointed last and comprises breaking thejoint in the last to release the shoe and the ends of the lacing, afterwhich the lacing may be slacked 01f substantially method are describedin the following specification and more particularly pointed appendedclaims. i

In the drawings, Fig. l is a detail front view of a shoe'upper afterhaving been laced according to the present out in the invention,illustrating the step of tensioning the upper over a last; I

Fig. 2 is an enlarged View of a1 lacing employed in the upper, lookingat the outer face of'the shoe and Fig. 3 is. a View of the substantiallycompleted shoe while being removed from the last, in preparation for afew minor finishing operations.

The upper of the shoe illustrated in the drawings is provided with acustomary form of dress shoe lace, indicated at 2, in the eyelets i ofthe upper, indicated at 6. The lace consists of a flattened length offlexible, woven strip material having permanent rigid or self-sustainingtips 8 and it formed by wrapping the end portions of the lace with ahardened plastic sheath. Each tip thus formed has a single free end,being connected integrally with the flexible portion 'of the lace at theother end.

The lace is inserted, according to the present invention, with theupperopened out and with lets nearest the ankle opening of the upper, ex-

tend diagonally between oppositely disposed eyelets of every third pairacross the edges of the upper at an acute angle. The pairs of oppositeeyelets are thus connected by parallel portions of lacing extendingalong the outer surfaces of the upper, and at least oneeyelet of everythird pair is connected with the corresponding diagonal portion oflacing extending along the inner surface of the upper. The parallelportions of the lacing take up the direct pull which tends to separatethe'eyeletted edges of the upper when the upper is tensioned over thelast 12.

The end portions of the lacing may be fastened together in any suitablemanner, as by tying a knot, or by passing the tips a second time throughopposite eyelets and carrying the ends inside the upper, as shown inFig. 2, so that they will be located and held within an area of pressurebetween the tensioned upper and the last during lasting operations. Whenending a lacing by passing the tips through opposite eyelets a secndtime, one end carried outwardly through one of a of oppositely disposedeyelets, across the lacing slit, then inwardly through the second of thepair of eyelets. The other end of the lacing is carried outwardlythrough the second of said pair of eyelets; then across the lacingslitin the opposite direction, and finally again inwardly,

through the first of the said pairs, to form a secure lacing of a lengthto provide a predetermined width of lacing slit when the upper isapplied to a last. One advantage of this last described form offastening is that the spacings between opposite eyelets maybe adjustedeasily when the upper is being applied to the last, to allow the lastingoperator to regulate the separation of the eyeletted edges and the widthof lacing slit according to the conditions met during lasting.

A last having been inserted within the laced upper, the upper tensioningand lasting operation next is performed and is illustrated in Fig. 1which shows a lasting gripper and stapling unit 8 d of a, machinesimilar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent to Lawson No.1,999,298, of April 30, 1935, operating to cause the upper to conformwith the surfaces of the last which is of the two-part jointed type. Theinner c'ris-s-crossportions of lacing assist materially in reducing thetendency of the'eyeletted edges along the lacing slit to shiftlengthwise of each other during the upper tensioning and lastingoperations. As a result, the lacing acts in a manner effective to holdthe eyeletted edges in proper relationship with a slit of predeterminedwidth, while the upper is being tensioned over the last during thelasting operation, with little likelihood of the upper being distortedfrom proper shape before completion of the shoe.

Not only is the lacing thus described efiective for holding theeyeletted edges of the upper with [a predetermined separation duringlasting operations but, as illustrated, the lacing is similar in manyrespects to a common form of handinserted lacing employed while acompleted shoe is being worn. When the completed shoe is ready to beplaced on sale, there is already provided,

therefore, a usable and durable shoe lace meeting all essentialrequirements for wearing qualities.

The lace 2 may be inserted in the upper .6 by hand but, in order toinsert such laces in and withdraw them from the eyelets of a shoe upperwith reliability and according to produc tion methods of shoemanufactures, the machine disclosed in the copending parent applicationabove referred to has been provided. Briefly, the machine has two pairsof grippers of suitable construction and mode of operation for engagingthe tips and threading them lengthwise through a. series of eyeletswithout requiring the grippers themselves to enter the eyelets, certainof the grippers acting to cause a portion of each lace adjacent to a tipto be bent over against the tip and inserted in an eyelet aheadof thetip. Each pair of grippers is actuable to grasp and release the tip of alace, to move toward and from the shoe upper 6 While inserting andwithdrawing the tip, and to move along the surface of the upper whiletransferring the tip successively from one eyelet to another, and thegrippers under the upper are rotatable to take out the twist in the laceproduced during the transferring operations so that the resulting lacingwill lie flat both inside and outside the upper.- g a After the lacing,lastingand othershoe making operations are completed, the last i2 isremoved from the shoe byhand or by a last pulling machine of the typedisclosed in United States Letters Patentto Whelton et al. Ito-1,820,952of September 1, 1931, a hinge E6 in the last being 'broken to facilitateremoval, as; indicated in as illustrated in this figure, the lacing maybe loosened easily and quickly as much as necessary to remove the lastfully from the completed shoe. In this condition, the shoe presents asaleable appearance and is ready for use, the lacing being loosenedfurther when necessary or tightened somewhat for display purposeswithout any additional handling operations being required.

By the practice of the method herein disclosed, not only is one of theusual two lacing operations entirely eliminated from the manufacturingsteps heretofore employed but, since it is possible to remove the lastwithout cutting the lacing, as ordinarily required where a tight knot istied between the ends of a lasting lacing composed of several strands ofrelatively small cord, the difi'iculties and wastage of lace materialsordinarily attendant in removing the loose ends of evered lacing alsoare avoided. A further advantage in using the dress-type face 2 forlasting purposes is that this type of lace, composed of Woven material,is larger and strongerthan the ordinary cord lacing heretofore employedand, as a result, will withstand the strains produced during lastingoperations better without tendency to mark the upper or slip through theeyelets. By employing a dress-type of lace for lasting operations, theexpense of the highergrade, tougher upper materials and special lacingcords of relatively great strength may be eliminated, the dress lacebeing sold with the shoe for regular wear after the shoe is completed.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and aparticular embodiment thereof havin been specifically described, what isclaimed is:

1. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in passinga dress lace through the eyelets and across the lacing slit of anunlasted shoe upper and securing the ends to form a lacing of a lengthto provide a predetermined separation of the eyeletted edges, when theupper is applied to a last, lasting the upper, removing the last fromthe resulting shoe, and completing operations thereafter on the shoewhile the lacing remains in place for subsequent use.

2. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in passinga dress lace through the eyelets and across the lacing slit of anunlasted shoe upper to form a lacing of a length to provide apredetermined separation of the eyeletted edges, when the upper isapplied to a last, applying the upper to the last with the ends of thelace located inside the upper within a pressure area between the upperand the last, lasting the upper, removing the last from the resultingshoe, and completing operations thereafter on the mined separation ofthe eyeletted edges, when the upper is applied to a last, applying theupper toa two-part jointed last with the ends of the lace passed asecond time through opposite eyelets and inside the upper within apressure area between the upper and the last, breaking the joint in thelast to release the shoe and the ends of the lacing, loosening thelacing, removing the last, and completing operations thereafter on theresulting shoe while the lacing remains in place for subsequent use.

4. An unlasted eyeletted shoe upper having a dress lace passing througha plurality of the eyelets and across the lacing slit with one endportion extending outwardly through the first of a pair of oppositelydisposed eyelets, then across the lacing slit and then inwardly throughthe second of said pair of eyelets, and with the other end portionextending outwardly through the sec- 0nd of said pair of eyelets, thenacross the lacing slit in the opposite direction and then inwardlythrough the first of said pair of eyelets to form a lacing of a, lengthto provide a predetermined width of lacing slit when the upper isapplied to a last for the shoe lasting operation.

5. A shoe provided with an eyeletted upper having a dress lace passingthrough a plurality of eyelets and across the lacing slit, and a lastover which the upper is tensioned, the ends of the lace being secured bycarrying them inwardly 0f the upper through certain eyelets and within apres sure area between the upper and the last.

JOSEPH FOSSA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 599,485 West Feb. 22, 1898855,969 Paine et a1. June 4, 1907 2,103,667 Fossa Dec. 28, 19371,819,440 Pym Aug. 18, 1931 2,193,187 Baxter Mar. 12, 1940 OTHERREFERENCES Boots and Shoes: Their Making and Manufacture and Selling, byWardley & Sabbage, vol. 4, page 37, figure 16, published by Pitman 8rSons, Ltd, London, England; copyright 1935. (Available in Div. 11 or byphotostat.)

